Hard by a Great Forest

*LONGLISTED FOR THE ONDAATJE PRIZE 2025*
* AN OBSERVER BEST NEW NOVELIST FOR 2024 *
*** SHORTLISTED FOR THE WILBUR SMITH ADVENTURE WRITING PRIZE 2024 *

'A spellbinding achievement' _FINANCIAL TIMES
_'Poignant and often painfully comic'** OBSERVER
'I gasped, laughed, and wept my way through it' KHALED HOSSEINI
Saba's father is missing, and the trail leads back to Tbilisi, Georgia.

Arriving in a city he has not seen for more than two decades, where escaped zoo animals prowl the streets and the voices of those left behind beckon him along a path of cryptic clues, Saba embarks on a quest that will lead him into the heart of a lost homeland.

This is a rare, searching tale of home, memory and sacrifice – of one family's mission to rescue one another, and put the past to rest.

'Hugely impressive' NEW EUROPEAN
'Novels like this might help light the way' GUARDIAN
'At once a puzzle hunt and an affecting meditation on exile' ECONOMIST